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Broken Arrow, Oklahoma native Rickey Thomas Ray comes from a musical family. His father sang and played piano in the tradition of Fats Waller. Both older brothers were players, one co-founding the popular Tulsa based group Bill and Cliff in the mid sixties, and the other founding the LA-based, rural-psych band, Plain Jane in 1968. His first cousin, Paul Ray from Dallas, Texas grew up with Jimmy and Stevie Vaughan and formed the group, The Cobras, which became the first group 17 year old Stevie Ray Vaughan joined upon arriving in Austin in the '70's. Rickey naturally grew up with a desire to follow in their footsteps, first learning the drums at age 6 and then trumpet and guitar in secondary school. He later studied guitar under the great Mike Bruce who will forever figure large in his life. Rickey enjoys the creative process of songwriting, vocal arranging and music production, and works out of his recording studio called "The Ray Ranch". He produced eleven of the fifteen songs on "Songs For The Illinois River, and plans on releasing a CD of his original music sometime in his lifetime. "Tahlequah Eyes", his contribution to the CD, was envisioned after hearing Robbie Robertson's (The Band) "Songs For Native Americans"; a fantastic collection of music melding traditional Native American music with modern sounds and songwriting. When he first heard Kelly Anquoe's CD "Bloodwork", he knew he had to feature Kelly chanting over the vamp of the hard folk-rock song "Tahlequah Eyes". His next coup was getting one of his favorite local bands The Hard Truth; the perfect band to wrap his Joe Walsh and Jimmy Page influenced guitar rhythms and riffs and Beatles inflected harmonies around. Also, that's Co-Producer Joel Sherrill you are hearing singing that high McCartneyesque harmony! Here's what Executive Producer Kathy Tibbits says about Rickey and "Tahlequah Eyes": "Pop music history and trivia are some of the first things I think about when I see a picture of Rickey Ray, but before I even finish these words, I want to reveal to you this universe of qualities, vast wide and replete; called “Rickey Ray Sauce”. When we say that the Songs For The Illinois River CD is “flavoured with Rickey Ray Sauce”, what we mean is that when many of the songs on this album were recorded, they each recieved styleised and quirky signatures from the creative mind of this Rickey Ray person. Your challenge while listening to this CD is to find the "Rickey Ray Sauce". You may think its fiery hot Marty Robbins trumpeting alongside twangy, corny lead guitar, a barnyard's fowl politics, Native American or Celtic-influenced magic. But no. Its "Rickey Ray Sauce"! Tahlequah Eyes, written by Rickey Ray is a double entendre inspired by the influences that lured him back 22 years later to Tahlequah (the magnetic centre of the universe) where he has remained inextricably bonded ever since, sometimes despite his effort to break free from gravity. Tahlequah Eyes is sassy and sexy like a Rod Stewart song, gone complex. There’s a lot going on here. It has a classic rock forthrightness, yet its composition is genius -- like a collage of faintly familiar wispy recognitions in totally fresh context. Kelly Anquoe’s Kiowa chanting and rhythms add yet another cohesive dimension to this song. “It’s a dream. It’s a vision. It’s a thought,” he describes. And it is. This song is."
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